Although UFC past used against him, Chris Lytle contemplating second run at office

After campaign loss, Chris Lytle contemplating second run at office, but not second run in cage

In running for office in his home state, retired UFC welterweight Chris Lytle learned firsthand how far MMA has to go before it reaches the mainstream.

On Tuesday, the 37-year old Lytle came in second in a three-person race for the Republican nomination for a seat in the Indiana state Senate.

But he believes his popularity as a mixed martial artist had little to do with his showing.

“If you look at who voted in the Republican primary in this district, it’s a lot of people who are 50, 60, 70 years old – not my demographic,” Lytle told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “Most of those people never heard of me, so I had to talk people into voting for me based on what my policies were.”

In the end, there were not enough people in his corner. Mike Crider, a security manager and disaster preparedness coordinator at Hancock Regional Hospital in Greenfield, Ind., won with 41 percent of the vote. Lytle earned 30 percent.

After a long fight – this one far from an arena packed with screaming fans – Lytle is back with family and deciding whether to make another run for office, perhaps in the Indiana General Assembly.

“I got 30 percent of the vote in between three people from people just liking what I had to say,” he said. “I think I became a much more persuasive speaker. I learned how to engage people better, and I think these things are really going to help me in the future in this line of work.”

Sometimes, he missed his old job. But don’t expect to see him back in the cage.

“If I didn’t quit fighting, I promise you I would have looked back with a life of regret saying I missed my kids growing up,” Lytle said. “That would be worse than missing a couple of good fights.”

As it turned out, the one he encountered on the campaign trail was just as tough.

“In the fight business, at least there’s always going to be a day of reckoning,” Lytle said. “No matter what you say, it’s always going to get settled in the cage, and that’s a good thing, in my opinion.

“In politics, there’s never a day where you have to prove what you’re saying is accurate or right or true. It’s just whoever can lie the best is going to be the most successful, usually, and that’s a huge problem.”

Opponents used Lytle’s past to attack his character during the race. An outgoing state senator at one point produced a picture of him bloodied after a fight and asked,”Is this who you want to be the next state senator?”

Further, he said a local paper took out of context a quote he gave at a press conference when the UFC came to Indianapolis for UFC 119 – he rematched Matt Serra and won a lopsided decision – and used it against him.

During the presser, a reporter noted that Lytle was a nice guy outside the cage and the opposite of that in the cage. Lytle joked that he “didn’t hate kids, so you hit people in the ring.”

He followed that with a serious quote, but he discovered that the quip was being used against him.

“I find out from people that they’re getting all these phone calls saying, ‘Would you think different of Chris if you knew the reason he fights is because he wants to hit somebody, and he can’t hit kids?'” Lytle said. “They tried to change it up and paraphrase.”

Lytle, who first considered a career in politics when he was involved in Indiana’s move to MMA regulation in 2009, said he was prepared for the attacks and took them in stride. But when it comes to his decision of whether to run again, his family takes priority. In a previous interview with MMAjunkie.com, he lamented that his new job afforded him little of the family time he expected to get after he retired from fighting this past August.

On the other hand, he said he feels passionately enough about politics that he hasn’t ruled out another run.

“I’m trying to find that balance,” Lytle said. “If I get into state government, the hours coincide with my kids being at school. If I don’t do it, I’m worried about what’s going to happen for my kids. What kind of job opportunities are there going to be? What kind of laws are we going to be living under?

“I think we’re in a very important time with economics and the laws that we’re making. I think we have some serious structural, base problems with our economic future, and I worry about that for my kids.”

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